Zakuul, 5 AEA
"Arcann! Your reign of terror ends here. Never again shall you enslave and oppress the galaxy. Never again shall your ships darken the sky of our worlds. Never again shall your troops march through our cities in conquest."
A strange sound, not unlike a knock, tried to draw the attention of the young Sith, who promptly ignored it. Some things were too important to interrupt, and a good celebratory speech was certainly among them. Her head was spinning and her limbs didn't quite feel like her own. How much time had she lost to the Eternal Empire's siblings? Had it really been five years? Arcann had much to answer for, and this was only the start.
"You are beaten, your armies scattered. Justice has finally triumphed, and peace shall return to our lives. Jedi and Sith, soldiers and spies, Republic and Empire, free people from all parts of the galaxy – we stood together, against you, to say 'enough'."
The noise returned, louder this time. The Sith considered to check it out for a moment, but stopped herself and continued to stare at her target instead.
"This is why you fell in the end, and why your defeat was inevitable from the start. Not military superiority on our part, not even better tactics or clever tricks made the difference, but cooperation. Loyalty. Trust. You did never understand their importance, perhaps not even the very concept, therefore neglecting the most powerful forces in the galaxy. And now, with the end of your regime, the future is ours again. For freedo..."
The world exploded in a billion golden swirls. Lord Kallig finally turned away from the mirror, but had to close her eyes, virtually blinded by the brightness. When she opened them again, the brilliant gleam had condensed into the form of a person, who stood between her and the closed door, hands on her hips, head tilted, and a shimmer in her golden eyes that was one part lingering Force power, one part chagrin, one part worry, and a good portion of mirth. Kallig blinked, undaunted.
"Did your masters never teach you not to phase into a bathroom?" she asked coolly.
The newcomer threw her head back and laughed.
"No, strangely enough they didn't. This particular lesson must have slipped their minds. But I knocked. Twice. What in Ardor's depths were you doing here? Did you practise your victory speech, or what?"
Kallig nodded, satisfied that her efforts hadn't gone unnoticed. "Exactly. We don't know when we will defeat Arcann and his troops, so it's best to use any chance that we get to do so. It would be a shame to save the galaxy and find ourselves speechless, wouldn't it?"
"Right now, you are not speechless, but shirtless. There is a difference."
The Sith blinked and looked down, at her standard military underwear and the pack of kolto that she had meant to apply to some minor blaster burns. Most of them had already healed, and the kolto itself had thickened and dried up in some spots. She sighed.
"Well, I sort of..."
"... got carried away a little?"
"Apparently. Is there something you want, Lea?"
The Jedi rolled her eyes.
"Will a summary be sufficient, or do you want me to recite the full list? Honestly, sister? I want to hug you, again, because I missed you like crazy during the last years. I want to make sure that you are well, despite the ordeal you went through. Hells, I want to pinch you, to convince myself that you are really here and not just a figment of my imagination. I want to kick your ass for taking a risk back on Zakuul..."
"... a risk that I know you would have taken as well", Raven interrupted. "The sun reactor was close to levelling whole blocks of the city!"
"Not the point. But right now, in this very moment, I just want to use the bloody bathroom."
Kallig drew what was left of her countenance and pride around her like a shield, slipped into her robe and turned to leave. She stopped at the last moment.
"It's not my fault that your allies stole a shuttle with only one rest room. And watch your language. Don't you have some kind of obligation as a Jedi to be the archetypical hero now and then?"
The Jedi made a face that wasn't altogether in the handbook for studious Padawans.
"Archetypical hero? You mean leather shorts, nothing but raw meat for dinner, and an insatiable need to check for beasts and treasure in any and all caves that I encounter? No, thanks. And I am sure that two crazy Sith Lords, one rebellious native and one super killer machine droid in a damaged shuttle between the glittering city towers of Zakuul have more important things to worry about than my choice of words when I am a little on edge. Now, would you mind to leave? Please?"
Kallig knew when it was time for a controlled retreat. She took the remaining kolto and stepped out of the relative safety of the bathroom, back into the chaos and uncertainty that her life had transformed into. Still, it was better than most of the nightmares she had endured during the last five years. And when Lord Raven Moira Kallig, Darth Imperius, heir of Lord Kallig and Tulak Hord, former member of the Dark Council and veteran of Oricon and Yavin 4, reached the shuttle's bridge and took a ration bar from the supply packages that had conveniently come with the vehicle, she was relieved to find that no matter if past or present, and regardless of the manufacturer, military rations were still stale, badly flavoured, and generally inedible. Apparently, some things never changed.
It was a comforting thought.
How large was this angular robot-controlled city? Raven saw no end to the sea of towers. The stolen shuttle crossed streets and open places, but more and more appeared in the warm light of the Zakuulan sunset. She only hoped that its engines would hold. Koth seemed to be confident that it could carry them far enough, but she sensed worry in Lana. Kallig couldn't blame her. There was a faint smell of burning in the air, which didn't do much to calm her nerves. The moments of peace she had enjoyed after being saved by HK from an unhealthy skydiving trip and eating the first meal in years were lost and shattered by reality. Peace was a lie, after all. A planet full of enemies, the galaxy she had known in shambles, Vitiate, or Valkorion, or however the world-eating monster fancied calling itself, in her head... Raven closed her eyes and fought the bile that threatened to come up her throat.
Through passion, strength. Through strength, power.
Through passion, strength...
Somehow, it was more difficult than usual to draw power from her own fear. Still, panic or not, some things had to be done.
"Lea? Could I talk to you for a moment? In private?"
Something metallic cracked as the Jedi emerged from a pile of rubble that had previously formed vital ship components. The Zakuulan artillery had certainly not been kind to their shuttle.
"Sure. Can't really fix these things here, anyway."
Raven forced herself to be calm, at least until the door to the bridge had closed.
Through passion, strength… She gave up. Somehow, just looking into the golden eyes of her sister seemed to cost more strength than she could find within herself, regardless of how much fear, fury or frustration she tried to convert. It was likely best to just get it over with and face the consequences.
"Am I possessed?"
Raven cringed involuntary. Of all the ways to phrase the question, this was probably one of the worst. Well, blunt or not, she had made herself clear enough. Every little sound became unbearably loud as the universe itself seemed to freeze. The Sith held her breath and waited for the answer.
After what felt like eternity, but had likely been only moments, something warm touched her cheek, and Raven nearly jumped. When she looked up, she was relieved to see the calm in the Barsen'thor's face. Lea shook her head slightly, while holding her gaze steadily.
"You are not possessed. Neither by Vitiate, nor by anyone else. There is indeed something new within you, though, some kind of power. It's similar to the Sith spirits that you bound, just both weaker and stronger at the same time. I guess it is him, or what is left of him, but separated from your mind. A stowaway, if you will."
Lea smiled, but it was a sad smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.
"Similar to the passenger that I carried for a long time, but likely less benevolent."
Raven felther sister squeeze her own hand reassuringly. "You are still yourself. And while I won't pretend to understand his goals or motives, I'd bet my life on this: Possessing you is not Vitiate's goal."
She coughed slightly. "I'd still advise you to use caution around him, of course. Especially because quite a lot of the things he might tell you are likely to be true. That's what I'd do, at least, in his place, if I wanted to manipulate you."
Raven nodded, fully willing to heed the Jedi's advice as soon as her head stopped pounding. But pain or not, nothing could stop the warmth spreading through her chest.
Still herself.
She hadn't been so sure a minute ago, but now she sensed the truth of these few words. And this meant that there was , strength, power, victory, all of this could be achieved in time. The Force would free her, if she was willing to fight.
Lea cleared her throat. "Now that we have gotten this particular bantha off the floor, might I ask you a question? If you already knew that Vitirion or Valkoate made himself a little guest room in the back part of your brain, why in the galaxy did you undress in front of a mirror when applying kolto to your forearm?"
Raven pinched the bridge of her nose. Five years worth of a headache had apparently chosen this moment to start tormenting her. Hopefully, her uninvited guest had to suffer through it as well.
She cleared her throat. "Whatever he's planning, I don't think the former Emperor's main purpose here is checking out my underwear. Though, come to think of it, I might just curtain the mirror off before taking a shower. Assuming that we'll find a facility with a shower where nobody tries to shoot us. I don't think this vessel is equipped for longer journeys."
Lea just rolled her eyes.
"I'll pretend that this is not your greatest concern", she answered. "Come on, let's see if Mr. Vortena has found a way out of the city by now."
Raven followed her sister. From carbonite prison to fighting for her life in a hostile city… what a day. Perhaps she could find a blanket somewhere on this ship and get some sleep.
Zakuul, Carbonite Storage Secure Sector, 5 AEA
The first thing Raven noticed was pain. Purest pain, plain and simple, that seemed to fill every single cell of her body. Did she even have a body? Was she still alive? She wasn't sure.
Then, suddenly, blinding white lights pierced the darkness around her. And there, was that a voice? Words started to filter through the thick layers of agony that clouded her mind. Thinking was difficult and made her head hurt even more.
"Don't try to move. You are dying."
Raven would have chuckled, but her voice didn't cooperate. The idea of moving was ridiculous. The level of pain she felt seemed appropriate for dying, though – it couldn't get much worse. Whose voice was it, anyway? There was something familiar about it…
"I may have your cure, but I'm not going to lie..."
Colour returned to Raven's world, way faster than she had anticipated. And she had been wrong – the agony she had felt ten seconds ago was nothing in comparison to the fire that burned inside her now.
"This will hurt."
Spots of colour and light flowed together and formed – a pistol? Without warning, gravity reclaimed her body, which was kind of bad because she was still unsure whether she was in possession of all her limbs or not. Some kind of surface closed in on her face with unsettling speed. Instinct overruled Raven's slow-moving thoughts and made her arms come up, stopped her from bashing her own head in. Somebody screamed, loudly.
One last wave of intense pain shot through her body, followed by relief. Raven blinked. The screams hadn't stopped… Realization hit her, and she closed her mouth. Blissful silence surrounded her for a moment, but now that her brain had started working properly, she suspected that laying on the ground would not help her. The young Sith struggled to her feet.
"That wasn't… quite so bad."
Blonde hair. Serene voice, despite the circumstances. Yellow eyes. Memory fiddled with its record cards and presented a name.
"Lana. You saved my life."
It was more a cough than anything, but Raven was glad that she managed. Her throat felt stiff, as if she had not spoken in years. Through passion, strength, this was the Sith code… With the passionate dislike she felt towards her carbonite prison, she'd surely be back to her old strength in no time. She focused on her rescuer. It was Lana, that much was certain, but there was something strange going on. Her face looked… different. Not much, but noticeable. And at her arm… was that a robotic hand? How long had she been imprisoned? Adapting to artificial limbs usually took some time…
"I spared you from dying this very instant. We still have quite a ways to go", Lana corrected.
Truer words had never been spoken. Luckily, her weapons were here, conveniently placed next to the carbonite chamber. Raven didn't inquire more about the Republic astromech that had come out of nowhere, because she was too busy catching her breath between avoiding enemy blaster fire and trying to keep up. Had her rescuer really called her 'last hope'? And what about the Empire and Republic? Raven hoped that she had only imagined the word 'fallen', but as she slowly regained some sort of awareness to the Force, she felt it herself – a massive shift in the balance of things. And the situation was only getting worse.
"We are not ready. Not for Vaylin."
Lana Beniko still kept her typical aura of calm confidence around her, but Raven swallowed when she saw the image. It was a face she knew, if only from her nightmares. If Vaylin was more than a figment of her imagination, then what else was true? What about her crew, her allies? Were they truly dead? Had the Imperial Citadel on Dromund Kaas fallen?
"Let's get you out of here. Hurry!"
Lana was right. There was no use in contemplating the fate of her friends now; they had to make haste if they didn't fancy a return trip to carbonite dreams – or worse. And Lord Kallig had just gotten used to breathing again. She wasn't about to give it up without a fight.
Raven followed the blonde Sith Lord, through masses of Skytroopers and blaster fire, hoping that this 'Koth' person did finally manage to pick them up. Preferably before her lung imploded.
"We have to keep moving."
Raven's lungs might protest, but the Sith forced her body to go on. She knew that Lana was right; she heard the alarms and felt that nightmare-come-true sorceress searching for her through the Force. Finally, they reached an elevator, and she appreciated the chance to catch her breath. Out of the corners of her eyes, Raven noticed Lana staring at her. If she was looking as bad as she felt, it was a wonder that the Minister of Sith Intelligence didn't start with CPR this very instant.
"What?" she asked, unable to find a more elaborate way to phrase the question.
"It's… good to see you."
Raven would have chuckled, but was still too low on oxygen to waste any. The situation was feeling a bit awkward.
"I have a million questions right now", she stated instead.
Lana sighed. "I know. The answers will have to wait."
Both Sith started to run again, though one considerably more curious and out of breath than the other.
Walker. Skytrooper. More troopers. And another walker. Raven heard her guardian's lightsaber sing as Lana cut her way through the opponents. One of her few brain cells that wasn't busy worrying made a note that the city they were fighting throughwas beautiful. There were secluded spaces with flowers of brilliant colours, exquisite fountains and serene little parks. She could have lost herself for hours in wandering the streets – at least if their inhabitants had stopped trying to kill her. With luck and some help from the Force, she had avoided further injuries till now, but it was getting harder to keep up.
"Fight through it!"
Her muscles were not cooperating any longer. With sheer force of will and Lana's help, Raven made it through the next door. Where was Koth? Was he okay?
Suddenly, something within her head seemed to explode, and Raven stared directly into the heart of a dying star. A massive burst of dark energy was sending ripples through the Force. What had Valkorion said? Vaylin had always been his favourite? The young Sith was starting to understand why. The very ground started to shake, and additional alarms sounded. Even the artificial lights blinked. Whatever the former Emperor's daughter had unleashed, it must have been massive.
"What's happening?"
Lana's answer mirrored Raven's own suspicions. "It's Vaylin! She'll bring the whole city crashing down on you if she has to!"
This cheery thought was interrupted by the timely chime of the comm link.
"Lana, are my scanners glitched? Did you just charge headfirst into a Skytrooper droid factory?"
This was getting better and better. Raven focused her anger and tried to call on the Force again. She wasn't nearly at full strength, but it was getting easier. Plus, she could breathe again without too much pain.
"We can handle a few droids. Come on!"
The comm beeped again. "That's my sister! Turn these soulless machines into scrap metal!"
Raven nearly fell over her own feet. It couldn't be… or had this particular horror also been a nightmare?
"Lea? Is that you?" she asked, not quite believing what she was hearing.
"Know any other sibling with suicidal rescues as a hobby? It's me."
"But I saw you die!"
"No, you just saw me get hit by Vitiate's Force blast while I was about to phase-walk. The experience was quite unpleasant, but it included a free trip through half of the galaxy, right up to the next nexus of suitably aligned Force energy. Luckily, enough of me arrived on Tython's surface for the Jedi healers to piece me back together, though it took them quite some time to do so."
Lana cleared her throat. "Could we focus, please?"
"Yes, what happened with the reactor?" Koth inquired, fear clearly audible in his voice.
Few things could have distracted Raven right now, but this did it.
"Vaylin happened!"
And Vaylin had been thorough. Explosions shook the building, electricity sparked, people were running in every direction. In the centre of it all, the dying star erupted its plasma over the scenery. It was smaller than her vision had led her to believe – Raven thanked the Force for this small mercy.
"Catastrophic reactor failure imminent", the computer voice stated calmly.
Who in their right mind would build a blasted sun reactor, anyway? Explosions were wrecking what was left of the controls. Was there still a chance to save anything from this fiasco?
"There is nothing we can do here. Let's go."
Lana echoed the assessment of the pessimistic half of Raven's brain down to the letter. Still, just running away and leaving thousands of civilians to their fate was wrong, even on a world full of enemies.
"Don't you dare!"
Predictably, Koth didn't share Lana's opinion. Well, he wasn't standing two steps away from the disaster zone, so suggesting heroics was a bit easier from his position. Raven massaged her forehead. It was time to be the hero, albeit a stupid one.
Somehow, Lana seemed to sense her intentions. Or she just knew her too well.
"We need to get you offworld, now!" she called, appealing to Raven's instinct of self preservation as well as her common sense. Unfortunately, those were just being overwritten by an instinctive and entirely unhealthy need to do good, no matter the cost. Well, Lord Kallig had never claimed to be completely sane.
"I won't save my own skin at the cost of others", she stated, as calmly as she could manage.
Her friend shook her head vigorously. "Do I have to remind you that you are Sith? Or has the carbonite poisoning affected your brain?"
Raven clenched her teeth.
"Fine. If I am to rule the galaxy, it will be with the most subjects, not the fewest", she grumbled, trying for a darker motivation. Or, like Theron would call it, 'more Sith-y'. Stars, where was the Republic agent? Was he still alive? Raven fought the panic and focused on the present instead. She had no time to deal with this now. The situation was bad enough on its own.
Resignation crept into Lana's voice.
"You better know what you are doing", she sighed.
Actually, Raven mused, while she was jumping over electric discharges, she didn't have a clue. She wasn't going to admit it, though.
About twenty Skytroopers later, she finally reached the electrical tower controls. But even after pressing the red emergency shutdown controls several times, the whole thing was still trying to detonate in her face.
"Enough! I'm taking you with me, whether you like it or not!" Lana exclaimed.
But it was too late for that. Outrunning the blast might have been possible at the beginning, but with the sun reactor this close to meltdown, Raven had only one option left. She drew her lightsaber and struck through the energy conduits before her, asking any and all well-meaning Force ghosts in range for their help. Energy hit her, again, and she was thrown backwards, but not before hearing what she had hoped for.
"Reactor shutdown sequence initiated," the synthetic voice declared.
Despite laying on the ground and feeling like being overrun by a charged and charging rancor, Raven smiled. The glow of the reactor core faded, and darkness spread as the power failed, but that didn't matter – the catastrophe had been averted.
She looked to Lana and reconsidered. Perhaps another detonation was imminent… The Sith's yellow eyes were glowing like the reactor a minute ago, obviously not impressed with the solution.
"Damn your stubbornness. You just gambled with the fate of the entire galaxy!"
The Sith Inquisitor stood up, adrenaline still flowing through her veins. The thrill of being alive making her grin despite the situation.
"You really thought you were going to lose me?" she smiled. "Come on, you thawed me out to achieve impossible things. This was just a little training session."
Lana just shook her head.
"Don't you start. Let's just go."
Despite her demeanour, Raven was positive that she had spotted the hint of a smile on Beniko's face as well.
Naturally, things didn't go as planned. Three minutes and what felt like three hundred Skytroopers later, Koth was nowhere to be seen. Maintenance issues, right… Raven followed Lana through a labyrinth of walkways, always hoping to hear Koth's voice announce pick-up coordinates, but fearing to see more Skytroopers or Vaylin running right into them instead. To make matters worse, she was also getting hungry.
"Almost there! Three more minutes!"
The Sith shook her head. Well, at least Koth was still alive. Predictably, more foes turned up this very moment. Lana frowned, clearly not happy with Vortena, the enemies, and the whole situation in general.
"Koth, we don't have three more minutes!" she shouted.
"Two and a half!"
Her sister's voice joined Koth's. "You can do this! We'll be with you shortly."
Raven hoped that they would hurry. Two guys in gold-brown armour were blocking their path, having jumped out of nowhere, and they were certainly not there to clue them in on Zakuul's most famous tourist destinations. Or the best restaurants. Stars, she would have given much for a simple Nerf burger right now. It felt as if she hadn't eaten in ages.
"Outlander! You are guilty of assassinating the Immortal Emperor, and of evading imprisonment!" the first one stated, with all the pride of a dutiful officer about to imprison Malgus the Betrayer.
The other soldier joined his colleague.
"We demand your immediate surrender!" he shouted, even louder than his friend.
Lana didn't seem to be amused.
"Knights of Zakuul," she explained, "a policing body under Vaylin's charge. Force sensitives."
Raven fought the urge to laugh, not out of courtesy, but because she didn't know whether she would be able to stop again if she started. Did those knights even listen to their own demands?
"If he's your Immortal Emperor, then how could I have killed him?" the Sith asked, careful to pronounce every word, hoping against all odds that the irony got through.
One long second passed. The two knights looked at each other. But confused or not, they didn't seem willing to let themselves be beaten by logic.
"You are a wanted fugitive! Surrender now!"
From there on, the situation deteriorated quickly. Well, Raven thought while evading another strike, at least they were now shouting 'fallen Emperor' instead of 'fallen Immortal Emperor'. Perhaps there was still hope for them.
With that thought still in her mind, Kallig asked Lana to spare the Knights. It wasn't really about public relations, as her companion commented cynically – killing the defenceless was just wrong. She might one day reconsider, should she ever face Vitiate in a similar fashion, but these men were only trying to follow their orders. Raven didn't want them to die for this.
"Vaylin!"
Hoping for one moment of peace and quiet was futile, Raven mused, while watching the walkway's elements fall into the depths before her. She was glad to be breathing again, but since she had been woken from one set of nightmares, she was stumbling through another without pause.
Now the dark sorceress and Eternal daughter had caught up with them. Time to see if she was immortal like her father.
"I don't know you. But you… I've seen you."
Vaylin's voice… Raven clenched her teeth. It had all the vibes of a honey-coated iron maiden – deceptively sweet, but sickly sticky and deadly without question. And apparently she liked to pose, like those famous tiny Alderaanian cats that had become so popular with many of the nobles. The Sith would have wagered anything that Vaylin also liked to play with her prey.
Lana stepped between them, lightsaber drawn.
"I'll hold her off as long as I can. The first chance you get – go", she ordered, determined yet grimly fatalistic. But Raven had finally had enough. Frozen, thawed, hunted, hurt, nearly melted down, shocked, threatened, with her world turned upside-down and a distracting hunger that gnawed on her insides… And now this ice princess, with a costume similar to those of the Coruscati Death-Day celebrations, dared to stand between her and freedom. Raven closed her eyes, and Darth Imperius opened them.
Through passion, strength. The Force would free them.
"I've been hunted long enough. I am not going anywhere", she stated, throwing each word at the universe itself and daring it to contradict her. Her blade ignited with its familiar hum, ready to cut through fate itself.
Calling Lana displeased would have been an understatement.
"You are impossible", she hissed, though Raven suspected it was more worry than fury.
Vaylin drew her own lightsaber, and as if on her mark, twenty-something Skytroopers readied their weapons. Well, simple tasks had always bored the Sith.
"Heads down, eyes open, run like hell!"
Both Koth's exclamation and the sound of roaring engines were among the most pleasant things that Raven had heard in ages. Without looking back, both Sith sprinted towards the shuttle, while its laser cannons covered their escape.
"Come on!" a familiar voice shouted over the noise. Apparently, her sister had made it as well.
Just as Raven was about to jump onto the shuttle, she sensed a Force wave behind her, and the ship rolled like it was hit by a giants' fist. Or giantess, as the case might be. She caught the edge of the gangway, but was unable to pull herself up – her lung hat picked the perfect moment to go on strike again.
A metallic hand picked her up unceremoniously and carried her to safety.
"Declaration: Meatbags can't fly."
It didn't matter that her vocal chords were still shocked by the impact, Raven thought, while staring at the sinister-looking droid with the almost cheery voice – she didn't know what to reply to this, anyway.
"Got a little engine trouble", Koth exclaimed in place of a greeting, but Raven didn't hear him. She was thoroughly distracted by a cry, a flash of gold and a not very serene Jedi who intended to squeeze her kidneys out of her nose.
"Love you too, sis", Raven croaked, and hid her face in the bushy mane that passed for Lea's hair as she felt moisture rise in her eyes. When she finally let go, the artillery fire had stopped. For the first time since her awakening from the carbonite tomb, Raven felther heart rate slow to almost normal levels.
She turned to the only person in the room she didn't know. Koth Vortena surprised her – he had a kind, but energetic aura around him, and seemed to laugh often. Somebody who enjoyed life, and keeping others alive, she added, wondering why he had agreed to this risky rescue mission. But that was a topic for later.
"Koth? Thank you for getting us out of there", she smiled, and Vortena returned it.
"Hey, it was nothing. Was curious if you were everything Lana and Lea said you were, and I had no better plans for today anyway", he answered with a chuckle.
Raven closed her eyes, realizing how tired she was, now that the adrenaline rush of fighting for her life was fading. She opened her mind to the Force, but recoiled, startled. The whole landscape of the Force, for lack of a better term, had changed. This was more than just a shift – it was the final proof for what she had been told, twice, by Valkorion, and by Lana. The Empire had all but fallen, and the Republic with it.
Tentatively, she reached out, searching for familiar remnants in the Force. She felt her sister's presence, as attuned to the light side as always, despite her antics and open emotions. There was Lana, calm and steady, her mastery of the dark side plain enough. Raven concentrated, dug deeper. What about her apprentices? She thought that she sensed Ashara, at least for a moment, but wherever the young Togruta was, she couldn't quite reach or locate her. And Xalek… she could feel an echo, of… pain? Regret? But the sensations were unclear and way too weak to act on. Besides, her options were quite limited at the moment.
Raven breathed deep and called on the Force again, trying to find the last person on her mental list. But she grasped nothing, found only the emptiness of deep space.
Memories flooded back, with painful clarity.
'Did it please you to kill him yourself?' Valkorion had asked her, within the vision, as she stood above her fallen ally, trying to pretend that it wasn't real. But she knew the truth, had it known back then. She just hadn't been able to believe it.
"Darth Marr is dead."
Raven nearly jumped when she heard her own voice. Somehow, speaking those words made it real, made the Empire's defeat official. Well, her ally had been the first and best defender of the Empire, after all. Imagining the red-armored Darth bowing to the leaders of Zakuul and negotiating terms of surrender was unthinkable.
"Yes", Lana nodded. "His absence has been felt by many."
"For quite some time, right?" Koth interrupted, while fiddling with the shuttle's controls. "It's going to be a short trip. Might want to start briefing your friend here on what's been going on the last five years."
Raven blinked as her brain tried to process what Vortena had just said, but she couldn't. She just couldn't. Yes, she had realized that some time had passed, but five years?
"Five years?"
Lord Kallig bent over as she felt icy realization flood her mind. Her stomach revolted. She turned, mouthed a short 'later' towards her sister, and fled towards the bathroom. She knew on an abstract level that she was under shock, but firmly believed that she didn't need any witnesses for a breakdown.
Through passion, strength. Through strength, power. Through power, victory.
She was still Sith. She could deal with this.
She had to.